Hey all, looking for some advice/perspective.

I recently started at a small community paper. The staff is super small. Myself and another reporter are covering a major metropolitan city. I have interned at three publications, including an NPR member station previously and was offered this position. I enjoyed those newsrooms and thought I did good work and was able to build a solid portfolio. What piqued my interest is about this position that it’s apart of a national news corp that sets journalism up with newsrooms across the country (if you’re think about one in particular, you’re probably thinking of this one).

The staff is very small. There is one editor who is also the owner of the paper and they are very focused on growing our brand (we’re in the process of moving to a new website and print production system) which means often times edits and story discussions/check in fall by the wayside. She’s also very disorganized and I’m having trouble adjusting to her editing style when I do get edits. I don’t feel supported in this newsroom all the while having to churn out stories for a website and bi weekly print publication. I’m also now being asked to take cover story quality photos, which wasn’t explained during the interview process. There was also no onboarding when I started or explanation of our work flow (there has still not been a clear explanation).

I’m currently 3 months into my one year contract and I’m feeling like I’m losing the will to keep that commitment. Everyday I wake up dreading the day ahead. I dread the check-ins with my editor because of how scattered her advice is. (Again, very disorganized, and I don’t say this despairingly, but she has ADHD which can make it difficulty to receive direct feedback or complete an assignment to move on to the next one — I’ll sometime get notes to revise a story several days after it’s been “complete” to include some minute detail she feels is important to include. Although she has a journalism degree she has never worked in a newsroom aside from the one she is running.)

I have a regional manager as part of this placement program who has been helpful and a couple mentors who I’m able to lean on for advice but the day to day is really stressing me out. I’m losing sleep and feeling more depression because of this situation. I’m worried about my mental health.

I’m really questioning if I’m cut out for this industry. I’d quit in a heartbeat but I don’t have anything lined up (although I’m interviewing for other publications), and I’m wondering if grad school is viable route also.

Any advise you have is appreciated. Sorry for formatting/typos I’m On mobile